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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
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Page 3 of 5
The game is for the kids
"If the parents want to be involved at the game level, then they should join the over 30 league," Camargo quips. "Do not coach your kid from the sideline. It blows my mind to hear a person who has never scored a goal in his/her life tell a player when to shoot. I let players and parents know that the players are the ones who will make the decisions of what to do with the ball."
When parents start coaching the game from the sidelines, it shows a lack of support and trust for the coach, their child and the other players. The foundation built at practice will begin to crumble as soon as just one player begins to follow the parent's instructions instead of the team's game plan. Team unity is affected both on and off the field.
"This," says Camargo, "is the Parent Trap. We do not trust others. We do not believe that others also help our kids, and we do not show faith and support to kids when we do not allow them to make their own decisions on the field and work out their own problems as players and teammates. We take away the most important thing soccer gives kids... life skills. A chance to work with others toward a common goal, make decisions on the field and experience the consequences, celebrate success, and survive failures - learning from them and then moving on."
Many coaches are enforcing team rules against excessive parental interference by suspending or expelling the player from the team. It is the only penalty that seems to deter this behavior. Camargo knows of a coach who recently let a girl go because her parents' attitude was so negative that other players/parents resented it. The daughter was listening more to them than to the coach. "Parents undermining other players is also very common in ODP and travel teams," says Camargo. "What many of them do not realize is that I just don't listen.
"Be sensitive to the pressure that most players feel," Camargo advises. "Your POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT toward ALL players is appreciated. Cheer and jump up and down during games. See, I believe in kids. Most of the time the kids can give you the solution. I believe that they have a brain and can use it. I believe they want what is best for them."
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